Search results

The campden tablet won't create any pressure that will risk pushing the cork/cap off. Dose it as you need to. The reason for keeping the bottles upright for a day is to allow excess pressure from the corking to be relieved. The cork will compress roughly its volume of air into the neck of the...

And dont forget to add an acid (eg citric) to make the solution more effective at evolving SO2.

It doesn't matter. Won't change unless you are mixing I'm the sugar with a load of water.

A 20% abv port will still oxidize and you'll get the fingernail polish aroma after a while. Perhaps you could get a couple quart sized Mason jars for the extra 1/2 gallon?

The order doesn't matter. You'll be needing to measure it all anyway. I usually measure brix first (because it's the quickest), then pH (because that's the start of the TA titration), then finally TA.

Parts per thousand is grams per liter. Divide the g/L by 10 to get %. Cab sauv would be good around say 5.5g/L

Everclear (190 proof) is an option that allows you to achieve the desired ABV without diluting your fruit flavors as much.

The chemical reaction is pretty much immediate. Just be sure to stir the wine well enough to get a representative sample for retest. Or wait until the next day and diffusion will take care of the mixing for you.

You should measure the TA and let that (along with your tastes) guide your next steps. Only microbes and chemical processes care about the pH. Your taste buds care about TA. The pH strips are not very reliable. An unfortunate corner of the process window is the high pH and high TA corner where...

How does it taste? It may already have enough tannin from the blueberry skins. Otherwise, I'd follow the directions of the package from the LHBS.

Both can be used but the calcium will precipitate very slowly as calcium tartrate crystals whereas potassium bitartrate crystals precipitate fast when you chill it. It is only a question of whether you can of you have crystals at the bottom of your bottle and how long you have to wait until it...

For grape based wine, you are better off using potassium bicarbonate than calcium carbonate. The calcium can SLOWLY bind with the tartaric acid and throw precipitates for 6 months. The deacidifying is immediate. Just be sure you add more sulfites and allow the carbon dioxide to be released from...

That's a good plan. For the Cayuga I harvested last Tuesday i pitched the yeast into the must and pressed 18hrs later. At pressing it already had fermentation going and it about done now. The yeast are very tolerant of sulfites and you can pitch it early.

It is almost immediate. You just need to stir it well to mix it in and get a homogeneous blending.

See if you can find a bowl that fits nicely in the colander. Use the bowl to scoop the must into the colander and then press the bottom of the bowl into the colander. Apply pressure for as long as you have patience. Depends on the style you are wanting. A dry wine wants to run 6.5-7g/L while a...

Usually the nasties you get from pressing come from high pressure presses (>45psi). It is quite unlikely you can approach that when pressing by hand, so press your fruit with abandon.

Traminette makes a very nice wine especially if you don't harvest it early enough before it picks up honey flavors, unless you like honey I guess. I'm harvesting our Tram next week. I've never used juicer so can't comment on its effectiveness. It doesn't sound like you have loads of grapes to...

My experience with blueberry is limited to one trial and it's pH was significantly higher as I previously mentioned. I do have years of other experience with other fruits and grapes and find the pH doesn't vary from 2.8 to 3.8 unless the fruit wasn't ripe in the first place. So, going forward...

Hi Jenny You're probably not going to want to add water since that will only dilute the flavors. I haven't made wine with either of those grapes, however. Beta wine can run high for acid but has a deep flavor, as I recall. The Swenson grapes tend to be fruit and light. If you have enough...

You will need a certain amount of free sulfites available at bottling to counter the oxygen exposure and help preserve the wine. So, whether you dose with sulfites right before bottling or weeks before, you need the right amount depending on the pH of your wine. You presumably will plan on...